West Africa

A Liberian teenage motorcycle taxi rider has become a national hero after he found and returned $50,000 that had gone missing from a prominent businesswoman in north-eastern Nimba County on the border with Ivory Coast. The young man, Emmanuel Tolue, saw the money wrapped in a plastic bag on a …

A French soldier died in an accident during a maintenance operation on the desert platform in Timbuktu in Mali. It is about Adrien Quélin, Marshal of the Logis. His death is announced by General Thierry Burkhard, the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces and Florence Parly, the French Defence …

A Malian former Islamist convicted of crimes against humanity for directing attacks on religious and historic buildings in Timbuktu has used a court appearance in the Hague to apologise for his actions. Ahmad al-Faqi al-Mahdi appealed to the judges for forgiveness as he sought a reduction in his nine-year prison …

Two men have been arrested for killing two protected elephants at the Wologizi national park in Liberia, the park’s head, John Flomo, has told AFP news agency. The bodies of the elephants were discovered with their tusks still intact earlier this month, AFP reports. Read also: South Africa: a German …

The head of an Islamic school has been suspended by the government in Nigeria’s north-central Kwara state after a video emerged showing a group of students being repeatedly lashed. The students, who included some males and a female, were accused of drinking alcohol at a birthday party of one of …

Laurent Delahousse, the head of the European Union in Liberia said he is sorry for saying that the Liberian capital Monrovia is a “disgusting” and “dirty” city, following a backlash. Speaking at an event organised by the Monrovia City Corporation last week, the EU envoy in Liberia said that Monrovia …

Police in Nigeria say they have rescued 47 people from what they describe as a “torture house” in the northern state of Kano. The property, in Kano city, was supposed to be a rehabilitation centre. In other words, a privately run facility where parents send their children who they believe …

Following the enactment of a law by President Julius Maada Bio prohibiting the death penalty which was accepted by lawmakers in July, Sierra Leone officially abolished the death penalty. “As a nation, we have today exorcised horrors of a cruel past,” the president said in a statement quoted by AFP …

The new Guinean Prime Minister, Mohamed Beavogui, has called for unity to ensure a smooth transition to civilian rule. Mr Beavogui said his administration will be “a government with a specific mission”. “We will be honest about what we can do and what we must do. What is important, once …

Army in Nigeria has confirmed the arrest of the famous actor Chiwetalu Agu for wearing an outfit bearing the flag of the proscribed group Ipob and inciting people to join it. The Indigenous People of Biafra (Ipob) is a group that wants a breakaway state in south-east Nigeria. The army …